Laurent Ney is a structural engineer and architect trained in Belgium and Germany. Since 1995, he has been a lecturer in structural engineering at several Belgian universities. In 1996 he founded the engineering firm Ney & Partners in Brussels and Luxemburg. Today, the main office is in Brussels, with satellite offices in Namur, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Bordeaux, Delft and Hanoi. Laurent’s approach is characterised by research-based design: optimisation and form-finding. This integration and optimisation of structural elements aims to overcome the classic hierarchic assembly of constructive solutions, and as a result leads to a design that is wholly integral: architecture, structure and context are addressed in one overall proposal. Each design is not a matter of signature or of form, but it is the result of a series of questions that he responds to. Laurent combines practical and theoretical knowledge. He published several books on his design approach and is a regular keynote speaker at international engineering conferences as IABSE, IASS and Footbridge.
Projects and Recognitions
Currently, Laurent is working on the transformation of the Dutch A27, a 44 km long highway that requires new traffic bridges and adaptations of old bridges. He is also working on a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge in Bremen (D) and the Luxembourgish pavilion for the Osaka World Expo in Japan. In 2021, Ney & Partners were shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Award with their design for the footbridge of Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, (UK). In 2020, Laurent Ney won the ‘medal Académie d’Architecture française, Research and Technique. In 2019, he received the Gustave Magnel 13th Gold Medal 2014-2018 for the bridge ‘De Lentloper’ in Nijmegen (NL). In 2018, Laurent was awarded twice in Japan, the prestigious Tanaka Award for Excellence in Bridge Design and Construction and the Japanese Architectural Association Award, both for the design of the footbridge in Dejima, Nagasaki. In 2011, he was the winner of the Charles Lemaire Prize and winner of the Cultural Prize University of Leuven in 2013-2014. Since 2015, Laurent has been a member of the Royal Academy for Science and Arts of Belgium.
Bridge “De Lentloper” in Nijmegen (2016, The Netherlands), Ney & Partners. Photo by Thea van den Heuvel / DAPh.
Ney & Partners https://ney.partners
Further keynote speakers will be announced weekly.